Dead Central

1788 AD Magazine of the Fellowship of First Fleeters ACN 003 223 425 PATRON: Professor The Honourable Dame Marie Bashir AD CVO To live on in the hearts and minds Volume 50 Issue 4 51st Year of Publication August-September 2019 of descendants is never to die WELCOME TO DEAD CENTRAL Our headline has nothing to do with an imagined clo- The cemetery finally contained more than 5000 memo- sure of Sydney’s main Railway station due to lack of rial stones, ranging from humble markers to ornate mon- trains and passengers, but rather an impressive, so- uments, erected over forty-eight years from 1820 to named historical display recently opened in the Level 1 1868, the year of the last burial. When it officially closed Galleries at the State Library of New South Wales. in 1888 the estimated final capacity approached 30 000 Fellowship members, from their reading of Ron With- burials. ington’s book Dispatched Downunder will be well aware By 1900 the grounds had become neglected and it was of the significance of ‘dead’ in the title. The whole area said at the time ‘a thick, disorderly, and in some places of Central Station, bounded by Elizabeth, Devonshire almost impenetrable scrub covered most of the ground and Pitt Streets and Eddy and tombstones lay Avenue, was once the scattered in careless site of Sydney’s second confusion all over the official burial ground, place - where standing, Sandhills Cemetery, in they presented gro- the area known as tesque attitudes like a Brickfields. party of drunken men This was the main cem- crossing a field’. etery for Sydney from By 1901 the NSW Gov- 1820 to 1888, consecrat- ernment was planning ed by Rev Samuel to use the site for Cen- Marsden at a ceremony tral Railway Station. De- at St Phillip’s Church at scendants were invited 11 am on 27 January to have the headstones 1820. relocated. Many, includ- The area encompassed ing those of 10 identi- was more than 11 acres fied First Fleeters, went and was fenced by a to the Bunnerong Cem- brick wall. The oldest etery at Matraville, with section, facing Elizabeth others going to St South was first used for all burials and then just for Rookwood, Woronora, those under Church of England rites. Later the rest of the South Head, Gore Hill and Waverley, the Government area was designated for other denominations. meeting the cost of the relocation. It was announced at the time that everything had been cleared from the site Considering the year the cemetery opened it is under- of the Sandhills Cemetery which eventually was totally standable that it became the final resting place of many occupied by the Railway Station. First Fleeters. In summary, records indicate that 46 First Fleeters were buried there, made up of 35 convicts (22 The Fellowship has conducted two dedication ceremo- males and 23 females), 10 Marines and 1 seaman. There nies installing plaques to honour First Fleeters buried at were no known children. both Sandhills (16 October 1988) and at Bunnerong (26 June 1988). (continued on page 3) Registered by Australia Post Publication No. 100002063 PRICE $2.50 Phone 02 9360 3788 HopingFounders for available a UK Fellowship of First Fleeters, 105 Cathedral Street, Woolloomooloo, NSW 2011 Email:[email protected] Plaquenow on Dedica- e-mail. First Fleeters on Facebook: www.facebook.com/FirstFleeters Details on page 12 Membership Enquiries:[email protected] WEBSITE: www.fellowshipfirstfleeters.org.au tion ~ Page 7 Founders September-October 2019 FOUNDERS PRESIDENT’S PEN The magazine of the Fellowship of First Fleeters Jon Fearon Editor , Layout and Artwork Jon & Karys Fearon Your magazine this issue continues a focus that began Ph. 02 4311 6254 E-mail: [email protected] last time, when the life of one of the marines on the First Fleet, Isaac Tarr, was featured. Two more Marines have their stories told this time, one who died here in the colony DIRECTORS 2018-2019 at 28, the other who stayed in the service for seventy years President/Chapter Development and died in England at the age of 90. Jon FEARON BA Dip Ed Stud (TESOL), Another link to last time is our lead story about the former Devonshire Ceme- Vice-President/Events/ tery which became Central Station at the turn of the 20th Century. If you hap- Maintenance Denis SMITH OAM pen to be in Sydney don’t miss the Dead Central Exhibition at the State Library, where the change from graves to trains is expertly presented. Treasurer/Secretary Kevin THOMAS FCA CPA FCIS Those of you who belong to chapters will be currently attending your AGMs Facebook/Website Liaison and electing your executives and committees for the year ahead. It saddens me Kerrie Anne CHRISTIAN BMet and other directors when we hear of chapters unable to find willing volunteers Plaques/Events/Membership to hold office and keep the FFF flag flying. Remember what we say, that the life Chris COUNTER JP of the Fellowship is clearly seen in the chapters. Office Manager/Membership And this brings me to a related matter. Below is your invitation to attend this Val COUNTER year’s AGM, which will be held at Windsor and hosted by Hawkesbury-Nepean Research Chapter in October. Our Articles of Association allow for 13 directors. So far Gillian DOYLE Dip Bus Stud only 10 nominations have been received. Currently the Board meets at First Chapter Liaison /Membership Karys FEARON BN Fleet House on the 4th Thursday morning of the month and will welcome any willing volunteers to the table, whether descendant member, associate or Archivist/Events friend. Half the current members also serve their own chapters in an official Sharon LAMB Assoc Dip Land & Eng Survey Drafting capacity but this is not a prerequisite. It just shows how keen we are! JON Minute Secretary/Library Karen LOVETT BA Dip Ed DNA Research FELLOWSHIP OF FIRST FLEETERS ACN 003 223 425 Julie WEBB BA B App Sc Dip Med Tech Patron: Professor The Honorable Dame Marie Bashir AD, CVO Dip FH Vice-Patron: Commodore Paul Kable AM, RAN, Rtd. Note: Other tasks are looked after by our team of faithful volunteers who NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING are at First Fleet House on Mondays, The next Annual General Meeting Wednesdays and Thursdays. Will be held on Saturday 26th October 2019 CONTENTS Commencing at 11.00am At: Hawkesbury Regional Museum 1. Welcome to Dead Central 8 Baker Street, Windsor, NSW 2. Directors; President’s Pen; Notice of Annual General Meeting AGENDA 3. Welcome to Dead Central (cont); 1. Welcome and Apologies. 4-5-6. James McManus and Jane Poole - 2. To receive and confirm the minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 27 two First Fleeters, Part 1. October 2018. 3. To receive the President’s Report. 6. Members’ Message Board; Donations 4. To receive and consider the Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Accounts of the Received. Fellowship for the year ended 30 June 2019 7-8. James Meredith Captain Lieutenant 5. To approve the appointment of Professor The Honorable Dame Marie Bashir as of Marines Patron. 9. Norfolk Island to commemorate the 6. To approve the appointment of Commodore Paul Kable as Vice-Patron. Sirius Sinking 7. Election of Officers: 10. Book Review - Esther; An Heirlooms -Appointment of Returning Officer, Register -Declaration of vacancy of positions and the election of Officers: President, Vice-President, Treasurer & Committee Members (max 13 Officers) 11. Chapters in Action -Declaration by the Returning Officer of the incoming Officers. 12. New Members; Deaths; For History 8. General business. Buffs. Chapter Outing to First Fleet K Thomas, Secretary, 27June 2019 House; Chapter Secretaries; 2 September-October 2019 Founders (from page 1) A more recent opportunity to revisit the into disrepair. relocation site at Botany occurred on 13 May 2016 when The change from ceme- the First Fleet tery to station is featured Memorial Gar- in Station for a City, den was highlighting the long opened and years of debate as to dedicated at where to build a new Eastern Sub- station worthy of the urbs Memorial growing city it was to Park. serve. Most impressive The Dead are Norman Selfe’s large Central exhibi- birds-eye-view watercol- tion at the library, which is open until 17 November this ours of a proposed city year, is a very modern curation, best appreciated using the centre, (not Hyde Park, free smart-phone app provided on entry. Viewers listen to said the demonstrators) the enacted commentary as they make their way around and the concerns ex- the seven sections of the display. pressed by many over The first, Hidden Histories, introduces the concept and the disappearance of old visitors are invited to visit the past and explore the maps, Sydney. letters, paintings and photographs, each of which gives A large room is set aside for the fifth section, Posterity, evidence of a story to tell. where viewers can sit down and watch videos of under- Consecrated Ground focuses on the setting up of the ground station development juxtaposed with multiple cemetery in 1820. A historic headstones. The audio guide allows listeners to hear map of Sydney from 1822 1822 Cemetery Map directs us to the site along- some voices from the side a map showing aborigi- headstones. In this room nal cultural sites at the time. we can also see the Epitaph There are accompanying art book of sketches and photo- works from the period, in- graphs by the heritage cou- cluding Taylor’s 1821 pano- ple Arthur and Josephine ramic view of Sydney, pur- Foster, dating from 1900 posefully annotated.

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